Biographical Encyclopedia of British Idealism

The Biographical Encyclopedia of British
Idealism will include the principal figures writing on, and
responding, to the Idealist
movement in Britain. Its focus will be on the idealism of the late
nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries, but will include major figures of
earlier
and later idealist schools.
From the time of the Cambridge Platonists of the
seventeenth
century, idealism has had a strong presence in the philosophical
traditions
of Great Britain, and its impact has been felt not only throughout the
English-speaking
world, but also in countries where intellectual contact with Britain
flourished
in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Moreover, in
recent
years, there has been a considerable renewed interest in the British
idealists,
and many of the ideas once championed by them are being reintroduced
and
discussed in philosophy and politics.
No existing biographical encyclopedia focuses on the
idealist
traditions in Great Britain. While articles on several of the figures
included
may also be found in the Dictionary
of
National Biography – though sometimes only in the new Oxford DNB
–
or in standard philosophical encyclopedias, information on many others
is
not easily available. This is particularly true concerning those whose
most important philosophical work, though inspired by British idealism,
had its
influence largely outside of the British Isles (e.g., in Canada,
Australia,
Southern Africa, and Asia – particularly India).
In addition to entries on the leading
representatives
of the idealist schools, the Encyclopedia will also include articles on
a
wide range of less well-known writers, not often included in
philosophical
encyclopedias or dictionaries. As the editors of the Dictionary of Nineteenth Century Philosophy
have noted, the importance of looking at minor figures is now widely
accepted
by historians of philosophy. Minor figures frequently posed the
problems
or extended the work of the better-known figures, so that it is often
the
minor figures who typically represent the breadth and impact of their
teachers.
Idealism had a significant impact on not only
philosophers,
but political figures, members of the judiciary, educators, social
workers,
scientists, church leaders and theologians, and missionaries – many of
whom
were active in the furthest reaches of the British Empire. As
appropriate,
the Encyclopedia includes a number of these figures to the extent that
they
made a relevant contribution to the development of philosophy.
This Encyclopedia will be invaluable for those
interested
in studying idealism – a tradition often regarded as an aberrant phase
in
the history of British thought. In particular, late nineteenth and
early
twentieth-century British Idealism provoked a wide range of attacks and
replies
from the major figures of the time, such as Henry Sidgwick, John Dewey,
F.C.S.
Schiller, C.D. Broad, and Bertrand Russell. Yet this Encyclopedia will
also
be of particular value to those interested in individuals who, while
closely
connected with British philosophy, had an effect far beyond it.
The Encyclopedia understands ‘British Idealism’
broadly,
and it will serve to illustrate the breadth and diversity of the
idealist
schools and traditions. Some of the major figures which were associated
with
British Idealism were Bernard Bosanquet, F.H. Bradley, Edward Caird,
R.G.
Collingwood, T.H. Green, L.T. Hobhouse, J.M.E. McTaggart, J.H.
Muirhead,
D.G. Ritchie, and J.H. Stirling. Important critics of idealism, as well
as
non-British thinkers who made significant contributions to the idealist
traditions
- such as Brand Blanshard, Benedetto Croce, William James, C.S. Peirce,
Josiah
Royce and George Santayana - also have entries.
Contributors whose entries concern ‘respondents’ or
critics
of idealism, will be asked to concentrate on how these authors
criticized
or responded to idealist thought.
While the Encyclopedia focuses on British thought
between
1860 and 1930, it will also include figures from earlier idealist
traditions
- such as the Cambridge Platonists (e.g., Henry More; Ralph Cudworth;
Benjamin
Whichcote; Peter Sterry; John Smith; Nathaniel Culverwell; John
Worthington;
George Rust; Anne Conway; and John Norris), George Berkeley, Arthur
Collier,
S.T. Coleridge, Thomas Carlyle and J.F. Ferrier – and important later
contributors
such as Michael Oakeshott, A.C. Ewing, J.N. Findlay, Blanshard,
and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
The time-period covered in the Encyclopedia is
largely
unrestricted. It will include those important figures who were engaged
in
– or engaged in discussion with – idealist philosophy, from the time of
its
earliest appearance. It will also include some living authors whose
contribution
to idealist philosophy has been particularly noteworthy.
In addition to some 200 biographical entries, each
containing
a critical assessment and bibliography, the Encyclopedia will include
lengthy
discussions of the background, history and development and influence of
British
Idealism throughout the world. This will involve treatments of related
themes
and subjects, including geographical surveys (e.g., “British Idealism
in
India,” “British Idealism in Canada,”) and analyses of how it related
to
certain fields or subjects (such as pragmatism and empiricism). These
discussions
not only set the context, but also signal where British Idealism had an
influence
and how related contemporary philosophical views relate to it.
Biographical entries have been written in an
accessible
style, avoiding unnecessary scholarly terminology, and include:
i) a biographical sketch of the author
ii) an analysis and assessment of his or her doctrines and ideas, with
emphasis
on the historical context and, where relevant, subsequent influences
iii) a bibliography listing the subject's major and minor philosophical
writings and giving a short list to further reading.